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Awesome, love it when Manu does this. His writing is refreshing and coming from the player's perspective is great
Watch out: Golden State can score a lot of points
by Manu Ginobili
SAN ANTONIO.- If you go by what's normal in this city, it's usual to have 90 degrees around this time of the year, so the 70 degrees we have now feel great. And to this nice weather we're having, we can also add the seven or eight days of rest that we earned with the unexpected 4-0 win against the Lakers. Truth be told, it did us good. We're practicing and getting healthier: we got Boris Diaw back and Tiago Splitter is not far.
It will be good that we're all healthy, because Golden State, our next rival, is playing at a high level and they're the surprise of the Western Conference. A lot of people didn't think they'll make the playoffs, but they had a great season and also had a very impressive player: Stephen Curry, who started good, got better, and today is a crucial for them. He's the star of a young team, small in height, which has a lot of shooters, more of a perimeter game, and can score a lot of points. We have to pay attention.
It won't be easy to attack them; they defend hard and it's a rare team, in that they can make it tough on you because they play zone defense, a rarity in the NBA. For us, the perimeter players, our job will be tougher than against the Lakers, because Golden State is difficult on the one on one, and they have a lot of talent in Jarrett Jack, Curry and Klay Thompson. They're quick, athletic, and that's where our team will have to excel: help defense on the pick and roll, double teaming, recovering. We'll do less of a physical job, but much more on the mental and focus aspect. If we manage to make it more of a tight game and we execute our game, we'll have a slight advantage due to our experience.
How am I feeling? I felt very well against Los Angeles. Truth be told, that was the strangest playoff series I had to play since I've been in the NBA, because that was allegedly the team nobody wanted to play against, because of the talent they have, and despite that they didn't play well during the regular season. Everybody wanted to avoid them. But in game 80, Kobe got hurt, Nash was already banged up, after the first playoff game, two other guys went down and it ended up being an atypical series, because the Lakers ended up without a bunch of starters and a few reserves. The talent was obviously limited by the missing players, and on top of that they didn't have much efficiency while we were solid and focused. We cut down the passing lanes to Gasol and Howard, fronting and defending from the side, and every time Howard had a good possession we would foul him because he's a poor shooter. At the end, even though we didn't play that great, we had more than enough to beat them because it ended up being an unexpected series.
I felt very well, especially on the first two games at home, when I was coming back with doubts after missing the last three weeks of the season. We always keep track of the number of minutes, about 20 average; in the last couple of games I could've played about 25 or 30, but it just wasn't necessary. I'm already in good shape and prepared, so I feel happy. And I didn't have to wear myself down either. Now the good stuff is coming up, the moment every NBA player waits for. There will be only eight teams, and every one of them wants to be the last one standing. It feels like a different game, like a different championship. The game number 65 for each team is different to the 2nd round of the playoffs, where you value much more each possession and everything is much more physical. The difficulty level rises considerably.
At the same time, it's true that in this season there has been very important injuries, even though there always are, because the season is very intense, with 82 games in about 170 days. The difference in this case is that it happened to important players, players that normally excel in the playoffs. Luckily, the ones from San Antonio had good timing to miss games: it happened to Tim early in the season, after that Tony, Boris, Tiago… I had three tears in the same area this season. But everything happened before the playoffs. I hope we can now stay healthy; if we lose, the other team must've played better.
Finally, I wanted to talk about the National League to congratulate Lanus, Regatas, Peñarol and Boca, the four teams that played the best. And I'm happy there's going to be a new champion, be it Regatas or Lanus; it's good for the League. I want to highlight Peñarol, that won the last 3 les, and I want to send congratulations to Oveja Hernandez, who is stepping down from the coaching job there. It's not easy to keep a team hungry and determined, and winning 3 les in a row is very, very hard.
Original Article (in Spanish)
Awesome, love it when Manu does this. His writing is refreshing and coming from the player's perspective is great
Thank you! Manu sounds very positive and ready to play!
I hope this in NOT their game plan - to do a lot of help defense, double teaming and recovering. STAY HOME ON THE SHOOTERS! DON'T HELP OFF CURRY!
But Stephen Curry is an inch taller than Tony Parker. Same height as Cory and three inches taller than Mills. Not that it matters much.
There's no need to play alot of help defense. I didn't think they needed to last series either but it didn't hurt cause LA couldn't make us pay anyway. Duncan/Splitter/Diaw can handle any of the Warriors post players without help.
Wonder if this is foreshadowing something?...
Great read, as always with Manu!
I really like his mindset going into this 2nd round
Thanks for sharing EL.
y'all welcome
I hope this isn't a repeat of the Suns '10 when they killed us with outside shooting and the pick and roll. If I was Mark Jackson I would be looking at that tape on how to beat the Spurs.
i read that entire article in manu's accent in my head
this hahahaha
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